November 21, 2014

SwiftKey is considered among the best third party keyboards on Android (and iOS). Lately, however, there have been some performance issues that have left users wondering what went wrong. The developers have apparently figured it out because a huge update is rolling out today to fix pretty much all of the performance issues.

Here are the details of the update:

Keyboard appears 15-20% more quickly – This is meant to reduce the gap between when you click on a text box and the keyboard actually appears. Developers reportedly worked on improving the speed from a “cold load” and when the app is stored in cache to optimize the speeds.

Keyboard leaves the screen 20-30% more quickly – Traveling along that same line, the keyboard also exits more quickly.

Switching between fields is 15-50% faster – When doing things like sending messages, you sometimes send a message then quickly tap the field a second time to re-open the keyboard. This update promises that experience will be much faster.

Typing is 10-18% more responsive – The update promises that people who type very quickly should notice a much more responsive keyboard.

18 new languages including Indian and Indo-Aryan languages.

There aren't any new features or themes and that’s okay because SwiftKey just released their Material Design keyboard theme pack not long ago. Of course, another way of looking at this is thinking of how fresh and quick SwiftKey is going to feel after this update and that might as well be a feature for those who have been frustrated with SwiftKey's recent performance.

The update should be rolling out now so keep your eye on the Google Play Store over the next couple of days. If you don't have SwiftKey and you want to give it another go, you can download it from the Google Play Store.